The present invention relates to headlights for vehicles.
More particularly, it relates to a headlight which has a reflector, a light source and a lens for passing the reflected light. A headlight of the above mentioned general type is disclosed for example in the German patent document DE 32 18 703 A1. This headlight has a reflector, a light source and a lens which is arranged so that the light reflected by the reflector passes through the lens. Moreover, the headlight has a light-permeable element which surrounds the lens at least over a part of its periphery, so that the light emitted by the light source and not engaged by the reflector can pass through the light-permeable element and can be collected. For this purpose the element is provided with prisms through which the passing light is deviated. With this design of the element, when the light source is turned on, the illuminating surface of the reflector is increased with regard to the surface of the lens. When however the light source is turned off, the element is perceived as dark and the headlight has an undesirable, non-uniform appearance.